ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
Khadi India
Khadi and Village Industries Commission  has a wide network of 8 Departmental Sales Outlets ‘Khadi India’ with its 18 branches and 8035 Khadi Sales Outlets of Khadi Institutions  and plays a major role in creating a network between the rural artisans producing Khadi and Village Industries  products and the consumers living in urban areas. In addition, KVIC has taken the following steps for promotion of KVI products to counter foreign goods:
- Launched an official e-commerce portal ‘khadiindia.gov.in’ exclusively to sell KVI products, where only listed KIs are allowed to sell Khadi products.
- Obtained trade mark registration for the wordmark ‘KHADI’ and the ‘Khadi India’ logos in India, under most of the classes, including classes-24 & 25 .
- Popularizing KVI products by organizing exhibitions at various levels to make them accessible in the domestic and international markets.
- US-based world’s leading fashion brand, Patagonia, is now using handcrafted Khadi Denim fabric for making Denim apparels. Patagonia, through Arvind Mills, has purchased Khadi Denim Fabric.
- Centre of Excellence  has been established for providing design intervention, product development and increasing marketability of Khadi products.
- KVIC arranged supply/marketing mechanism of KVI products including specialized in heritage and indigenous art and craft, through e-Market linkage for MSMEs - GeM portal , dedicated online portal  and accredited e-marketing portal .
- Exclusive Khadi Lounges have been opened at Kevadia  and at the airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bhopal and Goa to showcase the KVI products for national and international tourists.
- KVIC has taken the services of fashion designers for promotion of KVI products.
The following measures have been taken to safeguard and preserve the brands of KVI products:
- Khadi Trademark Registration for safeguarding interests of Khadi brands and boosting the sale of Khadi products.
- KVIC has removed the unauthorized entities which are selling KVI products from e-commerce sites and social media platforms.
- Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India conveyed the allocation of separate HS Code for 11 numbers of Khadi products so that the brand is protected and the international trades of our heritage products are tracked.
- Notification has been issued to all Central Govt. Ministries, Departments and Public Sector Undertakings  to procure minimum 25% of their annual value of goods and services from these Micro & Small Enterprises  registered with District Industries Centres / KVIC/ State Khadi and Village Industries Boards / Coir Board/ National Small Industries Corporation / Directorate of Handicraft and Handloom/ any other body specified by Ministry of MSME.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
MJPS
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Prime Minister's Office
PM to launch Rozgar Mela – recruitment drive for 10 lakh personnel – on 22 October
75,000 new appointees to be appointed in first tranche
Appointment letters to be handed over to the newly inducted recruits
Selection process simplified and Tech enabled to expedite recruitment process
Programme showcases continuous commitment of the Government towards providing job opportunities for the youth and ensuring citizen welfare
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will launch Rozgar Mela – the recruitment drive for 10 lakh personnel – on 22nd October at 11 AM via video conferencing. During the ceremony, appointment letters will be handed over to 75,000 newly inducted appointees. Prime Minister will also address these appointees on the occasion.
This will be a significant step forward towards fulfilling the continuous commitment of the Prime Minister to providing job opportunities for the youth and ensuring welfare of citizens. As per the directions of the Prime Minister, all Ministries and Departments are working towards filling up existing vacancies against sanctioned posts in Mission Mode.
The new recruits, selected from across the country, will join 38 Ministries/Departments of Government of India. The appointees will join the government at various levels viz. Group – A, Group – B , Group – B  and Group – C. The posts on which appointments are being made include Central Armed Force Personnel, Sub Inspector, Constable, LDC, Steno, PA, Income Tax Inspectors, MTS, among others.
These recruitments are being done in Mission Mode by Ministries and Departments either by themselves or through Recruiting agencies such as UPSC, SSC, Railway Recruitment Board. For expeditious recruitment, selection processes have been simplified and made tech enabled.
Ministry of Defence
Conduct of Defence Correspondents' Course  2023 at Air Force Station, Pune
Pune, 28 August 2023
The second leg of Defence Correspondents' Course , a three weeks course conducted by the Ministry of Defence for selected journalists from regional and national media houses, commenced on 28 Aug 2023 at Air Force Station, Pune.
Air Commodore Shekhar Yadav, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station Pune delivered the inaugural address and welcomed the 34 participants of the course. The initiative is aimed at fostering deeper understanding and insight into the workings of the armed forces, particularly among journalists reporting on subjects related to the military domain.
Over the course of one week, participants will engage with experts from various branches of the Air Force itself. These experts will provide comprehensive insights into various facets including Air Operations, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, as well as the organizational framework of the IAF. To enrich their experience, the participants will also visit Fighter Squadrons, Air Defence Squadrons and Repair Depot. These visits are geared towards offering a feel of the operational aspects and infrastructural components of the IAF to the participants.PIB Pune | M.Iyengar/D.Rane
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Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
API integration between PM SVANidhi and SBI portal launched – to ease process of receiving and processing loan applications
Integration to Facilitate Seamless Flow of Data between PM SVANidhi and SBI'S eMudra Portals
More than 20.50 Lakh Loan Applications received so far under PM SVANidhi Scheme - Over 7.85 Lakh Loans Sanctioned
As a part of Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi  Scheme, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launched the Application Programming Interface  integration between the PM SVANidhi Portal and the State Bank of India  portal. This integration will facilitate seamless flow of data between the two portals i.e. PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI's eMudra Portal in a secure environment and expedite the loan sanctioning and disbursement process, which will benefit the street vendors seeking working capital loan under the Scheme. Ministry would be exploring similar integration with other banks as well for which a consultative meeting will be held shortly.
The Ministry is implementing PM SVANidhi Scheme since June 01, 2020, for providing affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown. This scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh Street Vendors who had been vending on or before 24 March, 2020, in urban areas including those from surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas. Under the Scheme, the vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year. On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on quarterly basis. There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan. The scheme promotes digital transactions through cash-back incentives up to an amount of Rs. 1,200 per annum. The vendors can fulfil their aspiration of climbing up the economic ladder by availing the facility of enhanced credit limit on timely/ early repayment of loan.
As on October 6, 2020, over 20.50 lakh loan applications have been received under the PM SVANidhi Scheme. Out of these over 7.85 lakh loans have been sanctioned and over 2.40 lakh loans disbursed.
Ministry of Home Affairs
NCMC meets again to take stock of the preparatory measures arising out of the Cyclonic Storm ‘Fani’
The National Crisis Management Committee  under the chairmanship of Sh. P. K. Sinha, Cabinet Secretary,met here today for the second time in as many days and reviewed the preparedness with the States and concerned Departments of Government of India, to deal with the situation arising out of the Cyclonic Storm ‘Fani’.
The India Meteorological Department  informed that the Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘FANI’ lay centredthis afternoon at about 800 kmsSouth of Puri.As per IMD, it is very likely to intensify further into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 24 hours and move northwestwards till 01st May evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and reach Odisha Coast by afternoon of 3rd May.Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha, East & West Medinipur, South & North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly and Kolkata districts of West Bengal and Srikakulam and Vijayanagram districts of Andhra Pradesh are likely to be affected as per present indications.
Based on the decision of the first meeting of NCMC, Centre has already releasedadvance financial assistance of Rs. 1,086 crore to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal to assist them in undertaking preventive and relief measures.
Reviewing the preparedness of the States and Central Agencies, Cabinet Secretary directed that all necessary measures be taken to prevent any loss of life and to keep in readiness essential supplies including food, drinking water and medicines etc. He also advised all concerned to make adequate preparations to ensure maintenance of essential services such as power, telecommunications in the event of damages caused to them.During the meeting, officers of all concerned State Governments confirmed their preparedness to deal with any emerging situation arising out of the cyclonic storm.
Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations. Army and Air Force units in the three states have also been put on standby
NDRF is deploying total 41teams-- in Andhra Pradesh , Odisha  and West Bengal -- for prepositioning. In addition NDRF is keeping on standby 13 teams in West Bengal and 10 in Andhra Pradesh.
States have issued advisories and are ensuring that fishermen do not venture into the sea. IMD has been issuing three hourly bulletins with latest forecast to all the concerned States. MHA is also in continuous touch with the State Governments and the Central Agencies concerned.
Chief Secretaries/Principal Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal again participated in today’s NCMC Meeting through Video Conference. Senior Officers from the Ministries of Home Affairs, Shipping, Fisheries, Power, Telecommunications, Defence, IMD and NDRF also attended the meeting.
NCMC will meet again tomorrow to take stock of the emerging situation.
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India signs an MoU with Government of Uttar Pradesh
MoU signed for management of Widows’ Home in Vrindavan
The Ministry of Women and Child and Development, Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding  with Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh, in New Delhi today for management of Home of Widows at Sunrakh Bangar, Vrindavan. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has constructed this shelter home for widows with a capacity of 1000 inmates.
The MoU shall be in force for a period of 2 years which may be renewed for further period on satisfactory running of the Home. The Home shall be run by the Government of Uttar Pradesh themselves or by any state government institution or by any civil society or by any reputed non-government organization to be decided by the State Government.
According to the MoU, the Government of Uttar Pradesh shall be responsible for activities including setting up mechanism for identifying beneficiaries, providing residential care to the widows, deploying staff as per norms with prescribed qualification and experience. The MoU further states that senior officials of Government of Uttar Pradesh shall visit and check the security staff periodically and monitor their performance. The MoU also includes provisions for facilitating Aadhar Cards for all inmates and medical/geriatric care for inmates.
Prime Minister's Office
Housing beneficiary women of Kalkaji Delhi write to PM thanking him for realizing their dreams of a house
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi today tweeted about him being overwhelmed by the letters written to him by the beneficiaries who were allotted pucca houses under 'Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makan' scheme in the Kalkaji area of Delhi.
The women handed over the letters to External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar who had visited them. The beneficiaries expressed their happiness and and thanked the Prime Minister for helping them realize their dream and making their lives easy through the scheme.
The Prime Minister reiterated the government's commitment to keep working for the welfare of the poor.
The Prime Minister tweeted :
"दिल्ली के कालकाजी की उन माताओं और बहनों के पत्रों को पाकर अभिभूत हूं, जिन्हें ‘जहां झुग्गी वहीं मकान’ स्कीम के तहत पक्के घर मिले हैं। विदेश मंत्री @DrSJaishankar जी जब वहां गए तो महिलाओं ने ये पत्र उन्हें सौंपे, जिनमें उन्होंने अपनी खुशी जाहिर की है। वे बताती हैं कि कैसे इस स्कीम के जरिए उनका वर्षों पुराना सपना साकार हुआ है और पूरे परिवार का जीवन आसान बना है। पत्रों के लिए आप सभी का बहुत-बहुत आभार! हमारी सरकार गरीबों के कल्याण के लिए यूं ही प्रतिबद्ध होकर काम करती रहेगी।"
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
DoCA cautions Restaurants on forced charging of “Service Charges” on consumers,
Says it’s the discretion of the consumer; Calls National Restaurant Association on June 2nd to discuss the issue
The Department of Consumer Affairs  has scheduled a meeting on 2nd June, 2022 with the National Restaurant Association of India to discuss the issues pertaining to Service Charge levied by restaurants. The meeting follows as a result of DoCA taking notice of a number of media reports as well as grievances registered by consumers on the National Consumer Helpline . In a letter written by Shri Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs to President, National Restaurant Association of India, it has been pointed out that the restaurants and eateries are collecting service charge from consumers by default, even though collection of any such charge is Voluntary and at the discretion of consumers and not mandatory as per law.
It has been pointed out in the letter that the consumers are forced to pay service charge, often fixed at arbitrarily high rates by restaurants. Consumers are also being falsely misled on the legality of such charges and harassed by restaurants on making a request to remove such charges from the bill amount. “Since this issue impacts consumers at large on a daily basis and has significant ramification on the rights of consumers, the department construed it necessary to examine it with closer scrutiny and detail”, the letter further adds.
The following issues pertaining to complaints by consumers would be discussed during the meeting.
• Restaurants making service charge compulsory
• Adding service charge in the bill in the guise of some other fee or charge.
• Suppressing from consumers that paying service charge is optional and voluntary.
• Embarrassing consumers in case they resist from paying service charge
It is relevant to mention that the Department of Consumer Affairs has already published guidelines dated 21.04.2017 on charging of service charge by hotels/restaurants. The guidelines note that entry of a customer in a restaurant cannot be itself be construed as a consent to pay service charge. Any restriction on entry on the consumer by way of forcing her/him to pay service charge as a condition percent to placing an order amount to ’restrictive trade practice’ under the Consumer Protection Act.
The guidelines clearly mention that placing of an order by a customer amount to his/her agreement to pay the prices displayed on the menu card along with the applicable taxes. Charging for anything other than the afore-mentioned. without express consent of the customer. would amount to unfair trade practice as defined under the Act.
As per the guidelines, a customer is entitled to exercise his/her rights as a consumer to be heard and redressed under provisions of the Act in case of unfair/restrictive trade practices. Consumers can approach a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission / Forum of appropriate jurisdiction.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Centre holds meeting with all stake holders to discuss ways and means to ensure availability of edible oil at reasonable prices in the country
States and business must take all possible steps to soften the edible oil prices
Centre today held a meeting with all stake holders to discuss ways and means to address the issue of stability of edible oil prices.
The objective of the meeting was to coordinate efforts to ensure availability of edible oils at reasonable prices.
First of its kind meeting, held to discuss ways and means to address the issue of abnormal price increase of edible oil, was attended by Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India, Secretary Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India and Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, producers of edible oil seeds, millers. stockists, wholesalers, various associations of the edible oil industry sector, senior officials of States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The meeting was convened by Department of Food & Public Distribution, GOI.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Food & Public Distribution said that it was important to understand the issues that are contributing to price rise and discuss the same with all the stake holders so that appropriate strategies can be formulated to address the issue of edible oil prices
It may be noted that production and domestic availability of oilseeds in India is falls way short of needs of domestic demand of edible oil. A big volume of edible oil is imported each year. Changes in International prices of edible oil make an impact on domestic Indian price of edible oil.
The need to hold the meeting was also felt because Centre got concerned about more than proportionate rise in the prices of edible oil in India as compared with the rise in international prices of edible oil during the last few months.
Secretary Food & Public Distribution said that mission "Atmanirbhar Bharat" requires country to be self-sufficient in edible oils. Dependency of almost 60% on imports is not appropriate to the growth of edible oil industry in India. There is a need to strike a balance between short term measures to keep prices.in check and long-term measure of keeping India AtmaNirbhar in Edible oil production"
In the meeting it was felt that there was indeed a need to strike a balance between measures to keep high prices.in check and measures to make India AtmaNirbhar in the area of Edible oil production.
Secretary said that all the States and stake holders from the side of business must take all possible steps to soften the prices.
He added that suggestions presented in the meeting would help in arriving at wholesome solutions to address the issue in stability of edible oil prices and domestic growth oil seeds sector.
He asked the participants to mail the suggestions and other inputs as Centre makes efforts to ensure availability of Edible oils at reasonable prices
Prime Minister's Office
PM condoles the demise of veteran filmmaker, Shri K. Viswanath
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the demise of veteran filmmaker, Shri K. Viswanath.
The Prime Minister tweeted;
“Saddened by the passing away of Shri K. Viswanath Garu. He was a stalwart of the cinema world, distinguishing himself as a creative and multifaceted director. His films covered various genres and enthralled audiences for decades. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.”
Prime Minister's Office
Prime Minister’s Meeting with the United States Congressional Delegation
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met with US Congressional delegation led by Senator John Cornyn which includedSenator Michael Crapo, Senator Thomas Tuberville, Senator Michael Lee,Congressman Tony Gonzales and Congressman John Kevin Elizey Sr. Senator John Cornyn is the co-founder and co-Chair of the Senate caucus on India and Indian Americans.
The Congressional delegation noted the excellent management of COVID situation in India in-spite of the challenges of large and diverse population. Prime Minister noted that people’s participation based on democratic ethos of the country played a key role in managing the worst pandemic of the last one century.
Prime Minister appreciated the consistent support and constructive role of the US Congress in deepening the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnershipwhich is anchored in shared democratic values.
There was a warm and frank discussion on regional issues of mutual interest, including those related to South Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister and the visiting delegation noted the increasing convergence of strategic interests between the two strategic partners and expressed desire to further enhance cooperation with an aim to promote global peace and stability.
The Prime Minister also exchanged views on the potential for enhancing the bilateral relationship and strengthening cooperation on contemporary global issues such as the terrorism, climate change and reliable supply chains for critical technologies.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Shri Manoj Ahuja launches new campaign for banks underAgri Infra Fund titled Banks Heralding Accelerated Rural and Agriculture Transformation Campaign
Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare today launched a new campaign for banks under Agri Infra Fund titled BHARAT . This one month-long Campaign  with a target of Rs 7200 crore was launched through Video Conference attended by more than 100 Banking Executives that included MDs/Chairman, EDs of commercial Banks in public and private sector, Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks, NBFCs and select cooperative Banks. While addressing the gathering of Bank Executives and Ministry Officials Shri Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary  highlighted the progress made since the inception of this ambitious flagship Scheme. In his welcome address, he complimented the Banks for their active involvement and support to promote this Scheme which has resulted in creation of more than 31, 850 agri infra projects in the country with ₹24750 crore as loan amount under AIF with an outlay of ₹ 42,000 crores.
Expressing satisfaction at the support from the MoA&FW and Project Monitoring Unit of AIF, participating executives from Banks came up with many suggestions to take AIF scheme to newer heights. Secretary, MoA&FW congratulated the top performing Banks in different categories, namely State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Madhya Pradesh Gramin Bank, Madhyanchal Gramin Bank and Punjab Gramin Bank, for their laudable effort in contributing to take this scheme forward and appealed to all the Banks to achieve targets considering the vast potential for agri infra projects in our country. The Banks were also advised to carry out an assessment of impact of the projects created under the scheme at ground level.